How Did The Salem Witch Trials Result Of Mass Hysteria

Another example was in the testimony of John Cooke. He explained, Bishop visited him in the morning, struck him on the side of the head and disappeared into a crevice so small that he could fit his hand into. These testimonies were either narratives conjured to convict Bishop or they were hallucinations from the effects of ergotism. There was a hypothesis explaining an ergot poisoning epidemic in Salem in 1692. This could clarify the testimonies of Bishop attacking them with her witchcraft.

In the year of 1692, 130 people were persecuted in Salem, Massachusetts on claims of Witchery. 25 of them died. What could have happened in Salem to spark the infamous witch trials of Salem? I believe it was caused by paranoia, attention seekers, and unneighborly conflicts.

As one of the succession of three ministers who left the Village in the years leading up to the trials, he became involved in the Village 's social conflicts. During his stay in Salem he borrowed money from the Putnam family and when he was unable to pay it back, conflict with the Putnams arose. Burroughs was identified by several of his accusers as the ringleader of the

The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions that lead to the death of 20 innocent lives with over 200 accused of Witchcraft. However, I believe that something similar would’ve happened if the Salem witch trials didn’t happen. Salem was a ticking time bomb ready to explode any moment. The restrictive Puritan society coupled with personal fear of the severe punishments that ensues witchcraft, and people’s natural inclination for survival and power made Salem an ideal setting for mass hysteria.

People who they thought were good (ie. Abigail Williams, Rev. Parris, etc.) were showing that they are not. The majority of the townspeople openly support the Salem witch trials hold personal integrity and truth at a low level. The Putnams uses abuse and manipulation of the truth for financial and personal gain of land whereas characters such as Giles Corey, Rebecca Nurse, and eventually later, John Proctor all die in their own way as part of an act of resistance against the lies of the Salem witch trials. “you know in all of your black hearts that this be fraud.

There had been feuds happening in Salem long before the trials even began. For example, the Putnams had accused Rebecca Nurse of using witchcraft against Ann Putnam Jr. and Sr. The Putnams were very powerful in Salem Village. Nurse was born into a wealthy family, but over time lost all her money, and lived on the edges of the town (Document L). Nurse was originally from Topsfield, a neighboring town.

It is evident that the Salem witchcraft accusations were facilitated by numerous factors, and there were key figures who were accountable for causing the most damage. What caused and led the false trials into fruition was the naivety of the Salem theocracy and the influence by an allegedly infallible group. Thus, the Putnams and Abigail were the principal leaders of the group who accused, Reverend Gale spurred the initial craze on religious pretext, and the baseless and easily swayed judges, in particular Dansforth, allowed the claims to be turned into hangings. Foremost, among those responsible for the witch trials are the accusers made up of the town girls as well as the Putnams, who occasionally exercised their hidden agenda.

Putnam felt wronged by them because he was not accepted as a candidate for the ministry. He felt as though he was superior to the people around him. He was a vindictive person even before the witch trials. Putnam resented Salem and wanted everyone around him to suffer for not accepting him. He did this by accusing anyone he could of witchcraft.

This is a disease caused by ingesting the same fungus used to make LSD. The fungus can also be found in water, which may lead to why it was mainly females and children to become affected. For one, they would be drinking less alcohol than men. Alcohol would have killed the ergot fungus, leaving drinks like beer and cider unaffected. In addition, children would have had lower immune systems, and would be more prone to contracting the illness.

The Salem Witchcraft Trials had many effects on the town of Salem, Massachusetts. A lot of the effects were negative, destroying the community, government, even individuals. The Witch Trials affected the community of Salem in multiple ways. The witch trials created many tensions between several families in the town. The most acknowledgeable dispute from the play was between the Putnam’s and the Nurse’s.

The Salem witch trial hysteria of 1692 may have been instigated by religious, social, geographic and even biological factors. During these trials, 134 people were condemned as witches and 19 were hanged. These statistics also include 5 more deaths that occurred prior to their execution date. It is interesting to look into the causes of this stain on American History, when as shown in document B, eight citizens were hanged in only one day.

In Witches: The Absolutely True Tale Of Disaster In Salem by Rosalyn Schanzer people in the town of Salem were Condemned for being witches. By the end of it all more than 200 people were accused and 20 were executed. Horridly they accused people from all ages, everyone from teenager to ancient was accused. But why? The Salem Witch Trials were caused by hysteria, popularity, and revenge.

The Salem witch trial was a time about accusing your fellow neighbor or being accused yourself, this all began in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. During this time many people were being accused of being a witch, a majority of the time it was because either someone truly believed that you were a witch and were reeking havoc or they were trying to find someone to take the blame if they were to being accused. So this leads us to question, what began the Salem Witch Trials? There were at least three causes of the Salem witch trials hysteria. These were Betty Parris and Abigail Williams story, Ergotism, and the acknowledgment of hysteria.

Thomas Putnam accuses the citizens of Salem for putting spells on his daughter, Ruth Putnam. He does this to people he wants revenge on, once they are accused, their land goes up for sale and he buys their land. “ Thomas

Not many people know much about what actually happened in the Salem Witch Trials. Maybe someone would think that it was just about witchcraft and crazy people being hanged, but it is a lot more than that. The Salem Witch Trials only occurred between 1692 and 1693, but a lot of damage had been done. The idea of the Salem Witch Trials came from Europe during the “witchcraft craze” from the 1300s-1600s. In Europe, many of the accused witches were executed by hanging.